The hand-held non-powered use of sandpaper to smooth a surface or use of non-abrasive materials to clean and polish surfaces have had numerous inherent difficulties.
Currently, one method has been to affix the sandpaper or other material to a device such as a sanding block. The block, as the name implies, provides a flat face with which to make contact with a surface to be finished. However, such devices work best only on finishing surfaces that are equally flat. If the surface is curved, the use of a sanding block-type device with a flat face will cause uneven contact with that surface. If an abrasive material is being used, the device's flat face may actually damage the object being worked upon.
Alternatively, the user may simply hold the sandpaper or non-abrasive material by hand to make contact with the surface to be finished. The advantages of this method are that it does not require the purchase of any special devices and that the hand-held finishing material can easily be conformed to the shape of any curved surfaces. Unfortunately, this method is not practical for finishing larger surfaces because sustained use may cause hand cramping or even repetitive hand stress injury. Further, unless a work glove is worn, moving the sandpaper or other material along a surface exposes the hand to physical injury or trauma from the work object. This method, while inexpensive, also has the disadvantage of not being able to apply the sandpaper or other material with even pressure upon the surface.